Final Scratch is a DJ tool created by the Dutch company N2IT with input from Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman) and John Acquaviva that allows manipulation and playback of digital audio sources using traditional vinyl and turntables.
Final Scratch uses special vinyl records pressed with a digital timecode, which are then played on normal turntables.
Furthermore, it allows the use of CD deck features (software permitting) such as keylock, pitch shift, looping, instant cue locating and visual indicators of audio features such as loud or quiet parts, and the ability to prevent needle skips on the vinyl being reflected in the playback of the audio track being played/controlled (software permitting).
The original Final Scratch concept and prototypes were developed by the Dutch company N2IT V.O.F, by Mark-Jan Bastian, with help from Tim Hemel and Bill Squire.
These stages are marked by involvement with different companies, hardware configurations, software developers, licensees and licensors, and operating systems.
The technical specifications of this device have been closely guarded by Stanton as an anti-piracy measure, though some users, unsatisfied with the latency and instability of the system, have alleged the use of faulty Philips sound chips which had already been withdrawn from the market.
It was relatively primitive but some users found that, if configured correctly, it outperformed all subsequent versions of Final Scratch 1.x.
With version 1.1, Stanton Magnetics began working with Native Instruments on the software side of the product, which became Traktor Final Scratch.
Stanton claims that the ScratchAmp can now interact with any audio software through ASIO or WDM on Windows, and CoreAudio in Mac OS X.
Multiple open source software libraries have been created to decode the Final Scratch time code.
The laptop uses Final Scratch compatible software (typically Traktor DJ Studio) to interpret the timecode signal from the supplied special vinyl/CD, then play back a digital audio file based on that signal, allowing traditional DJ vinyl control of MP3, WAV and Apple AAC audio files.
A 1200 hertz amplitude modulated sine wave is pressed into the left and right channels with a phase difference of 90 degrees.
The time code implements very little error checking, an attribute strong in a number of other vinyl control systems.